News
Our new online Travel hub launches this Summer!
This Summer SIA will launch its new online Travel hub to support people with spinal cord injury to feel more confident when travelling.
Having confidence in being able to travel is crucial for a fulfilled life after spinal cord injury. Travel allows us the freedom to do many things; maintain social connections, get to work and appointments, get kids to school, enjoy holidays and to have overall life satisfaction.
After a spinal cord injury, travelling may seem an overwhelming and daunting prospect. Recognising how confidence in travelling may be impacted, SIA secured funding from the Motability Foundation to launch our ‘Travel with Confidence’ project.
We have collaborated with various travel providers, healthcare professionals, and wheelchair services to evaluate the available information on assistance, travel schemes, videos, and factsheets. Our goal is to compile all this information into an easily accessible format and integrate it into our website.
The new hub will be located here > www.spinal.co.uk/travel and will include lots of resources, information sheets, news, stories, podcasts and videos, featuring many of our members from the SCI community.
What you can expect:
- New Travel hub with filtered search function and lots of brand new resources.
- 11 Access All Areas videos from air travel, to wheelchair assessments.
- 20 downloadable information sheets written by our experts.
- 5 ‘Access All Areas’ podcast episodes with host Ollie Thorn.
- Up-to-date news and the latest articles on disability travel.
- Stories from our members, including holiday reviews.
… and much much more!
Not only will this new area of the website include what we sometimes first think of when travelling, such as the use of cars, public transport, boats, train travel and planes, but it will also include sections on mobility equipment, wheelchair assessments, getting around your home, how to plan for a day out, and even booking a holiday.
This is an exciting change of direction for SIA, focusing more on lifestyle rather than solely the clinical issues, and will be entirely complementary to the vast range of support and advice available on our website.
And this is just for starters! We will continue to add to this growing hub of content as the project progresses and welcome your feedback along the way to ensure that everyone landing on our site can find the information they are looking for, with a clear menu system and navigation options.
In addition, we will soon be launching a new travel campaign called “Access Denied” which will be running from Summer 2025 and will focus on aviation, rail and local travel, which the support of our members and the SCI community to raise awareness of the barriers they face on a day-to-day basis.
We can’t wait to share all this work with you very soon, so watch this space for the launch of the new Travel hub. Coming: Tuesday 5 August 2025!
Q&A with our project team
What is the ‘Travel with Confidence’ project? How did it come about?
Confidence relies on believing it’s possible to travel, knowing how, having the necessary tools, and a supportive system around to make travel plans. The Travel with Confidence project aims to improve the skills and knowledge of the SCI community to travel independently and confidently. We’ll build on our digital resource – the SIA Knowledge Hub – to boost information available specific to active travel and making journeys.
Through the project we aim to:
- Create comprehensive travel resources on SIA’s website through direct conversations with the spinal cord injury community on their wants and needs
- Guide people with spinal cord injury to access wheelchair services and to enhance their wheelchair skills
- Provide advice and knowledge on wheelchair services and equipment to people with spinal cord injury.
We’ll do this by focusing on educating our members, providing access to wheelchairs, building public awareness and through helping make systemic change.
After a thorough application process, the Motability Foundation confirmed a grant of £800,000 to SIA over two years through their Travelling with Confidence grant programme.
Our TWC team: Susie Wood, Susanna Turnbull, Fran Moya and Deborah Beale.
How did we learn travel was challenging for our members?
In our annual What Matters survey which asks the SCI community about the issues which matter most to them, between 30% – 40% of respondents reported facing significant challenges accessing public transport and accessible parking spaces, therefore limiting access to transport facilities and services. 35% of respondents said access to personal transportation and a suitable wheelchair were their main concerns when living with SCI.
What’s the goal of the project?
Our goal is to transform 4,000 lives in the first year and tens of thousands more thereafter, through systematic change and by doubling the number of members with spinal cord injury accessing much-needed travel support and advocacy.
We intend to empower the spinal cord injury community with the knowledge and skills needed for independent and confident travel, whether they’re at home or abroad. We’d like people to share their thoughts on mobility equipment and travel to help shape this endeavour.
Our occupational therapist Susie Wood explains: “For those with a spinal cord injury, travel begins with the ability to mobilise safely both at home and abroad. We will be putting together advice regarding wheelchair provision as well as access to cars, buses, trains, planes, ferries, and cruise ships.”
We recognise what a challenge we have ahead and therefore we will be guided by SIA members and healthcare professionals to start building a resource for mobility and travel.
Behind the scenes of our filming days
Back in November 2024 the Travel with Confidence team began filming some brand new video content for the project.
The 11 part ‘Access All Areas’ series will guide you through a variety of important topics, from train travel, driving, wheelchair assessment, bus & coach travel, ferries and air travel. We would like to give a huge thank you to videographers Second Sight for all their support on the project and we hope you enjoy the videos!
All smiles on the GWR train from Reading to Paddington.
At home with one of our members, talking about his holiday memories.
The filming crew, members and SIA staff with the assistance team at Gatwick Airport.
Find out more about this project by contacting: [email protected]
